31 DAYS OF HORROR 2026 - Day 1: THE LOVED ONES (2009)

When a boy's prom night goes unimaginably bad.  

Let's start the year off with some very strong meat indeed.

After suffering through eight years of lung cancer that robbed her of all quality of life, my mother gave up the ghost at age 92 on November 16th of 2025, and on the night before her funeral two dear old friends, Daisy and Keef, came over to keep me company and stay overnight for the funeral and reception, and they brought with them a film they insisted that I must watch. It was a 2009 Australian effort called THE LOVED ONES, and it comes from out of nowhere to add itself to my personal roster of my top ten favorite horror films of all time. 

A young girl's wholesome prom night fantasy...NOT. 

In a nutshell, THE LOVED ONES is the ultimate prom-horror flick, and it chronicles the ordeal of Brent (Xavier Samuel), a troubled teenager who is kidnapped on prom night by a classmate (Robin McLeavy)  and her father (John Brumpton) and forced to live out the girl's prom queen fantasies. Unfortunately for the lad, the girl is terrifyingly insane and utterly sadistic, with the full encouragement and assistance of her equally sick father, and it soon becomes apparent that the pair have been performing their twisted game for years, resulting in a slew of unsolved missing boys cases. 

At the mercy (or utter lack thereof) of the utterly deranged.

That's all that I will say, as spoiling things any further would do both the film and you a major disservice, other than to note that the film's every element fires on all cylinders, with every piece of the puzzle slowly connecting. The performances are uniformly. exceptional, and the torture sequences had all present wincing and exclaiming in utter horror, even those who had already seen it. No lie, if you enjoy psychological horror, THE LOVED ONES is the cream of the crop. HIGHEST RECOMMENDATION. 

Poster for the theatrical release.

31 DAYS OF HORROR 2026 — Introduction

  

Hey, folks —

As you may know, I am stuck in an endless cycle of dialysis to keep me alive due to late stage kidney failure until the blessed day when my long-awaited kidney transplant finally happens. One of the unfortunate side-effects of the illness and its dialysis stop gap is the post-treatment exhaustion that renders the patient devoid of energy, and after six years of enduring it on a thrice-weekly basis, this year I simply do not have it in me to watch, take notes on, and write about 31 horror items at the rate of one per day for the next 31 days. I just can't do it, so rather than have a year with no entries I am instead, with the exception of opening this year's round with a new essay, I will be mining the depths of over a decade of previously posted essays, with the emphasis being on films that don't get talked about much, that are so-bad-it's-good, obscurities, cult items, classics, and movies that are simply fun to talk about. Yes, it's a cheat, but my physical reality necessitates the move. So I thank you for your patient indulgence. And with that, enjoy some classics from deep in my vault!

-Yer Bunche